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Secondary sourcePainting1495

Saint Benedict

Pietro Perugino · 1495

A panel by Pietro Perugino depicting Benedict as an elderly monk, made for a Benedictine abbey's altarpiece.

Commissioned by a Benedictine abbey, this panel presents Benedict as its founder and spiritual father.

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Painting of a bearded elderly man in a dark hooded black habit with a golden halo, holding a bundle of three rods in his right hand and a red book in his left. He gazes to the side.
Pietro Perugino, Saint Benedict, 1495. Pinacoteca Vaticana.

About this source

What it is

This panel was painted around 1495 by Pietro Perugino and originally formed part of a polyptych for the Benedictine abbey of San Pietro in Perugia. It is now held in the Pinacoteca Vaticana.

Why it matters

The painting shows how a Benedictine monastery itself commissioned an image of its founder to honour him and assert its identity. Such works reveal how religious communities used art to connect themselves visually to their founding figure centuries after his life.

Look closer

  • What objects does Benedict hold, and what might they symbolise about his role?
  • Why would a monastery want a painting of its founder in its own church?
  • What choices did the artist make to show Benedict as holy and wise?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Saint Benedict on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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